Store Trek

By
Karen Topakian

Store
Trek
is
a
regular
Voice feature profiling stores and businesses
in
Noe Valley. This month, we introduce two businesses that revolve around
the
basics of school and home. Alain Pinel Realtors links Silicon Valley
employees
with Noe Valley living, and Kangaroos Play and Learn prepares young
children
for school.

With six children as their
guests, Magda Bachakashvili (left) and Natella Shtern have a fun day
ahead at their Kangaroos Play and Learn Center. Photo by Pamela Gerard

Kangaroos
Play
and
Learn
Activity
Center

816
Diamond
Street
at
24th
Street

415-206-9300

www.kangaroossf.com

If
making
art
and
playing
in
the
park
sound
like
fun, then Kangaroos Play and
Learn Activity Center could be the spot for you. But only if you can
count your
birthdays on one hand.

Located
near
the
corner
of
Diamond
and
24thstreets, Kangaroos opened
its
doors on May 1, in the storefront formerly occupied by Just Awesome
Games. The
preschool provides “a place where we can help children learn how to
socialize,
and prepare them for kindergarten,” says co-owner/director Magda
Bachakashvili.

Children
enjoy
a
balance
of
play
and
academics
in
the
classroom, she says, as well as
visits to local playgrounds such as Noe Courts on Douglass Street. They
also receive organic meals and snacks.

Co-owner/director
Natella
Shtern
says
a
key
goal
of
the
center
is teaching children independence.
But she takes her cues from the parents. “We cater to the individual
needs of
children and parents,” says Shtern.

The
two
owners—and
teachers
Stephanie
Cuff
and
Reem
Ghishan—all
possess
credentials
for
teaching music, art, dance, exercise, phonics, math, reading, and
computer
skills to children. “Our job is to get them ready for the real world,”
says
Bachakashvili.

By
limiting
class
size
to
15,
Kangaroos
maintains
a
ratio
of two to three children
per staff member.

Children
as
young
as
2
can
attend
from
two
to
five days per week in three-hour
sessions:
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., and
Tuesday and
Thursday afternoons from noon to 3 p.m.

“There
are
a
lot
of
stay-at-home
moms
who
need
that
perfect three-hour [slot]” to
get
work done, run errands, or care for other children, says Bachakashvili.

Both
Bachakashvili
and
Shtern
bring
their
own
children
to
Kangaroos,
where according
to Bachakashvili, all of the toys and activities are “child-tested by
our
children.”

All
sizes
and
shapes
of
painted,
stuffed,
and
cardboard
kangaroos
liven up the
1,000-square-foot space. Each corner in the room serves as an activity
center—there’s a science table, a Lego table, a pint-sized wooden
kitchen, and
a cozy reading nook. Brightly painted wooden blocks and anabacus
sit
atop
colored
bins
that
store
educational
toys
and
puzzles.

Students’
names
appear
everywhere
at
Kangaroos:
on
cubbyholes
featuring
their
photograph,
at
their seat at the kid-sized tables, and in the bathroom where their
own
diapers may be stored.

“We
help
with
potty
training,”
notes
Bachakashvili.
“We
have
the
parents start
the potty
training at home, and we mimic the parents.”

Classes
cost
$395
per
month
for
attendance
at
two
sessions
a week, $495 for three a
week, and $595 for four.

Parents
are
asked
to
sign
up
for
at
least
three
months. “The smallest is three
months,
to show development,” explains Bachakashvili, “so the parents can see
the level
of change.”

On
weekends,
Kangaroos
rents
out
its
space
for
customized
birthday
parties.

Shtern
and
Bachakashvili
are
also
the
founders
of
Kangaroos
Preschool,
which they
launched last year on Lawton Street in the Outer Sunset. Shtern says
the partners
picked Noe Valley for their second location because “we had a lot of
parents
from [Noe Valley] in our other school.”

Bachakashvili
says
she
knew
it
was
the
right
move
after
spending time in the neighborhood.
“It’s a stroller street. All you see is just strollers and moms.”

Alain
Pinel
Realtors,
one
of
the
country’s
largest
real
estate
brokerage firms, has
opened an office in Noe Valley.

The
office,
which
opened
in
early
August
at
3850
24th
Street, is the latest real
estate firm to seek business in the neighborhood, an enclave well known
for its
million-dollar homes.

Tim
Murray,
veteran
real
estate
executive
and
Alain
Pinel’s
Noe
Valley office
manager, says the company will focus on serving the needs of the Bay
Area’s
large concentration of high-tech employees.

“We’re
a
San
Francisco
firm
with
strong
ties
to
Silicon
Valley,” he says. Alain
Pinel already represents more than 25 high-tech and biotech
firms—including Google and Genentech—in helping relocating employees
buy and
sell their homes.

Murray
says
Alain
Pinel
also
is
geared
towards
assisting
financially
distressed
homeowners. The company currently requires that all of its agents and
managers
participate in a 20-hour class that certifies them in the sale of
bank-owned
foreclosures as well as in “short” sales (in which a mortgage lender
permits
the sale of a property for less than the amount of the loan).

“Our
goal
is
to
do
an
excellent
service
job
in
all ends of the market,” Murray
says.

In
addition
to
selling
residential
and
commercial
real
estate
and
managing rental
property, APR offers the services of its own private mortgage adviser.
Currently, the Noe Valley office and the firm’s Buchanan Street
location share
a Wells Fargo Bank loan underwriter, Krista Lott. In the future, Murray
plans
to add a fulltime underwriter to the Noe Valley office.

The
branch
is
staffed
seven
days
a
week,
with
a
full-time receptionist from 11
a.m.
to 5 p.m. and real estate agents on duty between 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Murray says
the office currently has 12 agents and plans to increase the sales
staff to 20.

“Only
experienced
agents
that
have
already
established
a
presence
in
Noe Valley with
a strong client base” will work out of the 24th Street location, he
says.

APR
chose
to
add
Noe
Valley
to
its
roster
of
32 Bay Area offices because the firm
was “already doing a lot of business and sold a lot of property” in the
neighborhood, he says. The area itself attracted Murray, who says he
likes the
ambience and the feeling of safety in Noe Valley. “The neighborhood is
almost
like a small town.”

The
agency
took
over
the
storefront
that
Phoenix
Books
once
occupied at the corner
of 24th and Vicksburg streets. After a six-month remodeling, the firm
now has a
comfortable workspace for its agents as well as a client waiting area,
kitchen,
and a sunny corner conference room. Large planters stand on either side
of the
front door, “giving everybody a lift when they walk by,” says Murray.

Alain
Pinel,
based
in
Saratoga,
Calif.,
isthe
largest
privately
owned
and
independent
residential
real
estate
company
in California. Realtor Magazine
ranked
it
the 51st largest in the country, based on last year’s volume
of
sales.